There is something in the nature of silence which affects me deeply. Why it is I know not; but I do know that I love to be alone at such an hour as this. I love to forget the outward world and hold communion with the beings of the mind. – Charles Lanman, “Musings,” 1840

The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand. – Frederick L. Knowles

If the Stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I rise and turn back…. leaving the rest of the world to coyotes who are now running across the mountain together, howling and yipping behind me, calling for the frozen night to come. – Craig Childs, The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild